In a blink-and-you-miss-it approval motion, the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District adopted an adjusted Local Control Accountability Plan expected to carry the district through the 2020 school year. The LCAP update adjusts the district’s progress, needs, and plans to satiate those needs.
At a June 28 board meeting, the LCAP -- which was preliminarily discussed on May 31 with a public hearing on June 19 -- was approved after receiving feedback from the Los Angeles County Office of Education, who didn’t provide substantial changes to the LCAP presented to public, save for minor wording changes and a few additional expenditures.
The LCAP outlines several goals for the district in upcoming years.
Items highlighted in the presentation at the June 19 board meeting included beginning implementation of the American Counseling Association national model at secondary schools, development of a Social Justice Framework and action plan and integrating those plans into practice, and developing a Family Engagement Framework to strengthen family and school partnerships.
Needs identified in the district had a strong emphasis on helping minority and underserved students, with increasing access and support for English Learners, Latino, African-American, Special Education, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and Homeless/Foster youth students being objects of discussion at the last LCAP discussion.
Mora said the district plans to increase these groups’ state standards and decrease their truancy, absenteeism, and suspension and expulsion rates (which she added are low).
Additionally, the district hopes to ensure all students are “socially just and ready for college and careers,” having all families and students engage in “safe, well-maintained schools that are culturally responsive and conducive to 21st-century learning.”
The LCAP report also included budgetary information, including supplemental grants, general funds, and federal funds, with a total projected LCAP budget of $131,446,320.
The district plans to use this money in many ways, including increasing or improving services for many things such as programs and services focused on assisting minority and underserved students, ongoing costs including staff-related costs, updating software, providing school supplies, and maintaining and adding contracts and services.
angel@www.smdp.com
